Loose Teeth, Stong Heart
by TMNTGFKittySidekick01
Summary: When Leo's alone in his new room on Fugitoid's ship in space, Casey comes in and shares some problems he's been having to the blue clad turtle. Will his spirit be lifted?


**Hey guys! Welp, I was watched the first episode of season 4, fangirled, then realized something. Not many people take the time to think about Casey and Leo's relationship. I saw the part where Leo and Mikey were knocked together by Lord Dregg and saw them lose some teeth. That's where I got the idea for this fic. Hope you enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own TMNT. That makes me sad.**

Leo's POV

I laid in my temporary room on the ship. Once we got away from that Lord Dregg guy, Fugitoid told us about the Triceratons. I guess they'll be mad at us in either timeline since they were outside approaching us. Fugitoid said he'd keep a close eye on them, though said that they most likely wouldn't pass us until tomorrow. With that in mind, he told us to go to bed and he'd alert us if anything happened. I came straight to my own bedroom while everyone else went and cleaned up. I wanted to take some time to finally take in everything that's happened. We were taken in by Fugitoid to have a second chance to save the world from both the Triceratons and the Kraang. We traveled back in time 6 months. I can't even remember what we were doing at this time before all this happened. Everything since we started coming up to the surface has been a big blur. We've made some great allies, but also many enemies. There are too many of each to count. I didn't even see some of them when the world was sucked into what was probably oblivion. I wonder what the humans thought as well. I was just so thankful for Fugitoid. He didn't have to help us, but he saved us anyway and gave us a second chance. Once all this is over, we're going have to seriously thank him.

I sat up to stretch my sore, tired limbs and felt something in my mouth. I licked my finger to look at what was slowly filling my taste buds with a coppery taste. I took my finger away and looked at it. It was covered in blood. When had I started bleeding? Then, I remembered when Lord Dregg slammed me and Mikey together, making us both lose some teeth. I guess I had to check if whether or not he lost any teeth too. I swung my legs over the side of the bed, about to stand up when someone opened the door. I had turned the light off, so I couldn't see who was at the door at first, and they couldn't see me.

"Leo, you awake?" The person whispered, and I recognized the voice instantly. Casey Jones. He was one of the allies they had made. No, not allies, best friends. Sure, me and Casey never really interacted as much as my brothers did with him, but he's still an awesome guy with the same purpose we have. Take down the evil of the world. He was standing in the doorway holding a glass of water and another empty glass. The empty glass confused me, but I chose to just drop it. He'll explain it to me.

"Yeah, I'm awake. You can turn on the lights", I said, and he reached over to the wall and felt for the light switch, switching it on with his elbow. Since his hands were full, he used his foot to kick the door so that it wasn't really shut, but nobody could see in.

"Mikey told me that you might have some missing teeth", He said as more of a statement rather than a question. I nodded my head.

"I was just about to check Mikey to see if he had lost any", I said, almost asking a question more than giving a statement.

"Don't worry dude. I already checked up on him. He lost some too, but I took care of him. I came to check up on you", He said, handing me both glasses. I stared at him in confusion, so he elaborated.

"The water is to wash the blood out with and the glass is to spit out the water", He explained, and I nodded in understanding. I took a sip of the clear water and swished it around in my mouth before spitting it into the empty glass, seeing the liquid now a light pink. I noticed then that Casey was sitting next to me on the bed, his head hanging, shoulders drooped, eyes closed. I've never seen the human teenager look so upset before. Sure, he had his fair share of times of being sad around us, but just like Raph, he had a mask he wore to hide his true emotions. Sometimes, he and Raph were so alike it was weird.

"Casey, I can tell something's wrong" I say, breaking the silence, causing him to raise his head and look me in the eyes. His eyes were filled with sadness, desperation, and-was that fear?

"Look Leo, I know that you and I never really talk much, but can I still talk to you?" He asked. I stared at him shocked. I knew we never really talked much, but he could still talk to me about anything! He should know that!

"Casey, you can tell me anything and I promise, it'll stay between us. What's wrong?" I ask, genuinely concerned as I set the two glasses on the floor by the bed. If anybody I loved was hurting, I was there in an instant, ready to offer them anything to get them to smile again.

"Okay", He started, turning towards me more, "So, I've been thinking. If we're now six months into the past, I can't even remember where we'd be if we were on Earth, but I'm still concerned about my family. Not you guys, no offense cause I love you guys more than anything, but I mean my little sister and dad. Where are they right now? Are they worried about me right now? Have they even noticed I'm gone? Are they safe?" He started rambling as he started choking up, "I sometimes feel like I'm not good enough for them. After my mom died, I vowed to take care of them, they're all I have left, but how am I supposed to do that when I'm pretty much never home?!" He yelled before finally bursting into tears, sobbing.

I could only stare at him for a few seconds. How long had he been suffering like this? How long did he think that he wasn't appreciated? How long-?

I snapped myself out of thoughts quickly though. I immediately scooted closer and wrapped my arms around him, just like I did with my brothers whenever they were hurting, and he returned it with strength I never knew he had. I knew he was muscled, but he was nowhere near as muscled as me and my brothers, but he was almost choking me with this bear hug.

He finally pulled away after a few minutes, much to my relief. Despite my current lack of oxygen, I reached out and put my hand on his shoulder.

"Casey, I can understand where you're coming from when it comes to wanting to protect your family. I know that as well from a big brother's perspective, but you're helping them more than you think. You've helped us fight against aliens and mutants that no human teenagers like you and April should ever have to cross paths with. Even if you're dad and sister can never know, what matters is that while you're helping them, you're helping millions of others as well. That includes me and my brothers. I don't think we'd be where we are today without you. We've never really said thank you for that either. You didn't have to get involved. You didn't have to help us fight those foot bots the first night we met you. You didn't have to get involved with us period, but you did anyway because protecting people is what you do, just like us. For that, I truely thank you Casey. For all you've ever done to help us. Even if you're dad and sister will never know, you're doing way more than you think you are", I said with as much love and compassion as I could. He just stared at me for a few seconds before flinging himself back on me, crushing me yet again.

"Thanks Leo. I really appreciate it", He muffled into my shoulder. I smiled and gave him a light squeeze before pulling away.

"Whenever you need me, my door's open 24/7", I said as he started to walk out. Before he left the room however, he turned around.

"You're a good big brother", He said, and I smiled in pure happiness. He smiled back before pointing at something on the floor and leaving. I was confused by what he pointed at, but when I looked down, I saw the two glasses. Oh yeah. I felt around my mouth with my tongue to feel that the bleeding had mostly stopped, but I reached down, taking both glasses in my hands, and took another sip anyway before spitting into the glass with the pink water. I wonder how many times Casey's had to do this. I guess I can ask tomorrow. I know he won't make fun of me either for being so curious, because I think tonight just proved that we understand each other more than we think we do.

 **And there it is! Don't go just yet! I'm posting a Halloween fic right after this one in celebration of Halloween! Keep you're eyes peeled! Until then, TGKS1 is out of here!**


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